Graham Thorpe
Graham Paul Thorpe
Born: 1 August 1969, Farnham, Surrey
Major Teams: Surrey, England.
Known As: Graham Thorpe
Pronounced: Graham Thorpe
Batting Style: Left Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Medium
Test Debut: England v Australia at Nottingham, 3rd Test, 1993
Latest Test: England v India at Lord's, 1st Test, 2002
ODI Debut: England v Australia at Manchester, Texaco Trophy, 1993
Latest ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Leeds, NatWest Series, 2002
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1998.
Career Statistics:
TESTS
(including 25/07/2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 77 140 18 5109 200* 41.87 46.57 11 30 86 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 23 7 37 0 - - 0 0 - 1.60
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(including 02/07/2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 82 77 13 2380 89 37.18 71.17 0 21 42 0
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 20 1 97 2 48.50 2-15 0 0 60.0 4.85
FIRST-CLASS
(1988 - 2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 290 485 66 18625 223* 44.45 43 100 259 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 386.5 71 1305 25 52.20 4-40 0 0 92.8 3.37
LIST A LIMITED OVERS
(1988 - 2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 330 309 53 10089 145* 39.41 8 75 151 0
O R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 120.1 649 16 40.56 3-21 0 0 45.0 5.40
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
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Profile:
Graham Thorpe has developed into a mainstay of the England middle order. A
dependable and technically sound left-hander, he is capable of hitting but
knows the value of ones and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Thorpe's quality was recognised early, as he was selected to play for
English Schools at Under-15 and Under-19 level. He was also no mean
footballer, playing for England Schools at Under-18 level where he had a
reputation for "getting stuck in". Fortunately for Surrey and England, it
was cricket that won the day. Thorpe has been "Mr Reliable" for Surrey since
his debut in 1988. He has scored more than 1,000 first-class runs in a
season four times for the county up to 2001. His most prolific season came
in 1992 when he hit 1,863 runs at an average of more than 50. In the summers
of 1996 and 1997 he averaged about 70 for his 1,700 runs.
Only two years after Thorpe's Surrey debut he was selected to go on an
England A tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya in 1989/90. The following three winters
were spent touring with the A team, to Pakistan, the West Indies and
Australia. It proved an excellent way of gathering the experience necessary
for the step up to Test level, which came in 1993 - and Thorpe made an
instant impression by scoring an unbeaten century on his debut against
Australia at Trent Bridge in 1993. His average since then has hovered around
the 40 mark - a sure sign of quality at Test level.
Consistency has always been Thorpe's watchword, and although it took
another 14 Tests for him to hit his second Test century - also against
Australia - he had in the meantime hit eight half-centuries. On the tour of
Australia in 1994/95 he scored 444 runs at an impressive 49.33. Other
international highlights have included hundreds in successive Tests in New
Zealand in 1996/97, and being named England's Player of the Series when he
hit 453 runs at 50.33 against the visiting Australians in 1997. His highest
Test score came in that series when he scored 138 at Edgbaston, putting on a
record fourth wicket partnership for England against Australia of 288 with
Nasser Hussain who made 207.
Thorpe risked his international career by pulling out of England's tour
to South Africa in 1999/2000 to spend time with his children after touring
for ten successive winters. But England needed his consistency and he was
recalled the following summer.
An undemonstrative demeanour while batting hides a steely resolve, never
more apparent than when he hit the winning runs while making an unbeaten 64
in the gloom of Karachi to clinch England's series win in Pakistan in 2000.
In Sri Lanka he stirred himself to even greater efforts. He hit 59 and 46 in
the Second Test at Kandy to help level the series and, in the deciding Test,
scored an unbeaten 113 when the next highest score in the England first
innings was 26. After Sri Lanka had been bustled out for 81, Thorpe had to
bat again on the same day and despite being mentally and physically
exhausted, he guided England home with an unbeaten 32 out of 74/6.
Thorpe's 2001 domestic season was ruined by injury. He began in splendid
form, taking 80 off the Pakistan attack in the first Test at Lord's and
equalled his best-ever Test score with 138 in the second at Old Trafford. He
also showed his value as a fielder, taking some marvellous catches in the
slips. But he then suffered a calf strain and was out of the NatWest Series.
He returned to the England side for the second Test at Lord's against
Australia, without having had any meaningful cricket, and looked as
comfortable as anyone in the first innings. He was then hit on the hand by
Brett Lee, broke a bone and was out for the rest of the season.
It was originally thought that he would be unfit to travel to Zimbabwe at
the outset of the winter touring programme, but when Craig White withdrew
from the original touring party, Thorpe reported fit and was drafted in.
Again without practice, he went straight into the team for the warm-up match
against Zimbabwe A and scored 95. His form on the rest of the tour tailed
off with scores of 13 and 8 in the two innings he played, but there was no
doubt that his presence in the side had been missed.
Thorpe's winter got off to a miserable start. After much debate as to
whether he would go on tour in the light of the September 11th security
situation, he eventually elected to travel, only to return home on the eve
of the second Test in an attempt to save a failing marriage. He had scored
62 in the second innings of the first Test, but generally looked out of
sorts.
Initially, he could not get into the one-day side when the England party
returned to India after Christmas, but he was back for the fourth ODI with
an imaginative innings. He was wasted going in at six in the next match and
did not fire in the last game in India. An average of 42.75 with a top score
of 59 not out showed his worth in terms of reliability in the one-day
internationals, while the Test series proved once again that he was back as
the most accomplished batsman in the team. At Christchurch, he was dropped
second ball when he had four, but went on to record his personal best in
Tests with an undefeated double hundred. Furthermore, it was the fourth
quickest Test double hundred of all time.
Even when not scoring as heavily as that, as was the case later in the
series, Thorpe was still capable of influencing a match, as with his
stunning catch to dismiss Nathan Astle in Auckland. He was fielding at third
slip, but took the catch fractionally above the turf while at full stretch
to his left in front of second slip. England's Test sides are invariably
stronger for the presence of Graham Thorpe in their midst.
After missing the last four games of the NatWest triangular one-day
series with India and Sri Lanka, Thorpe announced his retirement from
one-day international cricket. He stated that he wished to give his full
attention to Test cricket, while also spending more time with his young
children. He returned to the England side at Lord's for the first Test
against India but, after a thoroughly indifferent display, announced that he
was giving up all cricket until he could sort out his tangled personal life
and could concentrate fully on his cricket.
Just prior to the selection of the party for the Ashes tour, Thorpe
announced that he had reached that stage and made himself available.
Following lengthy deliberations between themselves and the player, the
selectors announced the name of G.P Thorpe in the list of players to go to
Australia. He gave interviews to the effect that he had sorted himself out
and was ready for the task ahead. However, that optimism could not survive
for more than a couple of weeks and, despite two hundreds for Surrey, he
then announced that he was withdrawing from the tour. So closed another
chapter in his international career. It could mark the closure of the entire
book. (Copyright CricInfo October 2002)
Last Updated: Saturday, 09-Nov-2002 15:26:34 GMT
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